The president of the organization behind Brad Pitt's housing initiative in the Lower 9th Ward will be among the speakers this weekend at the 14th annual Tulane Law School Summit on Environmental Law and Policy.

In addition to Matt Petersen, the president of Global Green USA, the scheduled lineup includes Bill McKibben, an environmentalist and author.

The two-day conference, which will start Friday, will be in Weinmann Hall, 6325 Freret St. Optional tours of the Holy Cross neighborhood and the Manchac wetlands will be offered Sunday.

Tulane faculty and staff will be admitted free, along with all students. For others, the admission fee ranges from $60 to $250. More information is available at summit.law.tulane.edu.

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'NO MORE DRAMA': A speech designed to help students manage stress will be delivered today at 11 a.m. in the Knights' Cafe on Southern University at New Orleans' Park Campus, 6400 Press Drive.

The speaker will be Sil Lai Abrams, the author of "No More Drama: Nine Simple Steps to Transforming a Breakdown Into a Breakthrough."

Her speech will be free and open to the public. More information is available at 504.286-5395.

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GRADUATE SHARES WORK: A Newcomb College graduate will discuss her work with Latin American financial institutions Thursday at 6 p.m. at the annual Alberto-Culver Lecture in Tulane's Lavin-Bernick Center.

Jeanne Olivier, who earned a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, is a partner in the New York City office of Shearman & Sterling, where she is part of the group that deals with project development and finance.

Her speech, sponsored by the Newcomb College Institute, will be free and open to the public, as will a 5 p.m. reception.

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HEALTH CONCERNS: Friday is the deadline for early registration for the three-day annual conference on health disparities sponsored by Xavier University's College of Pharmacy.

The April 19-21 meeting, which is designed for health professionals, will include speakers such as Dr. M. Romy Francois, the assistant state secretary for public health, and Sybil Richard, deputy state secretary of Health and Hospitals.

People may register at xula09.the1joshuagroup.com. The rates, through Friday, are $50 for students and $125 for everyone else. After that, the fees are, respectively, $75 and $125.

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HONORS: Kathryn Henderson, a candidate for a doctorate in counseling at the University of New Orleans, has been named a fellow of Chi Sigma Iota, the national counseling honor society.

-- Charles O'Connor, a chemistry professor and director of the Advanced Materials Research Institute at UNO, has been named a Boyd professor, the highest academic honor in the LSU system.

-- Dillard University has been named South Central Construction magazine's Top Owner of 2009 in recognition of the work done to repair Katrina-related damage estimated at more than $400 million.